Many wireless consumer products provide an increasing number of features and functions while the size and power consumption is decreased. This development has been primarily due to a higher integration level enabled by advances in sub-micron technology. For example, today's mobile telephones have more features such as FM radio TRX, Bluetooth and GPS as standard features. This was not the case a couple of years ago. This trend of adding new features to the mobile telephones is likely going to continue such as by adding features related to WiFi, DVB-H and NFC (Near Field Communication). At a low attachment rate, these wireless features are often implemented as separate integrated circuits (ICs). However, once a group of features have become standard for mobile telephones, there is a strong motivation to combine the features on the same IC to reduce cost and footprint. Unfortunately, despite the advantages of concurrent operation of features the potential cost savings beyond IC package, crystal reference and power management remain relatively limited. Moreover, concurrent operation of transceivers in close proximity, or on the same IC, brings additional coexistence drawbacks. The most severe coexistence problem is crosstalk between tuner sections. For example, mutual coupling between two oscillators in two separate tuners can cause interference and distortion in both receivers.
Similarly, high-end car radio applications require multiple receivers with multiple standards. There are triple FM receivers operating concurrently including main channel, background scanning and RDS/TMC. Digital Broadcasting standards such as DAB family (DAB, DAB+, T-DMB and variants), DRM/DRM+ and HD have dual receiver that require diversity and/or multiple services. There are combined analog/digital receivers that operate concurrently, such as concurrent FM and DAB reception for seamless FM/DAB blending. It is important to realize that there are numerous obstacles that hinder the effective integration of multiple tuners on the same IC due to coexistence challenges. Moreover, despite the availability of power from car batteries, excessive power dissipation in one IC is still not acceptable. Additionally a large chip area of the combined functions leads to a lower yield and therefore higher costs. The combination of large chip area and power dissipation makes the IC packages expensive. There is, therefore, a need for a multi-standard multi-tuner transceiver concept that addresses and overcomes the problems and drawbacks outlined above.
The method of the present invention provides a solution to the above-outlined problems. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a method for using a multi-tune transceiver. A single oscillator is provided that is electronically connected to a divider. An input channel is provided that is in communication with the divider and an analog-to-digital converter. The input channel has a first bandwidth and the converter has a second bandwidth that is broader than the first bandwidth. The single oscillator operates at a frequency higher than frequencies inside the reception band such as the FM band. The divider divides the frequency of the single oscillator that is used as input when producing overlapping sub-bands that cover the entire reception band.